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Thunder storms back
Former wrestler Mike Staples, called Rolling Thunder, is reclaiming his life following surgery.

By Jen McCaffery

Rolling Thunder is back - minus more than 140 pounds.

The professional wrestler, whose real name is Mike Staples, underwent gastric bypass surgery in April. Before Staples went in for surgery, he tipped the scales at 614 pounds.

"It's a depressing thing to be that big," said Staples, a 40-year-old Roanoke resident. "You would get tired of your back hurting, your knees hurting, all this medication."

In 2001, Staples announced that a match against wrestler Vader at the Salem Civic Center - part of the North American Wrestling Association's Legends Tour - would be his last. He still managed drop kicks and power slams despite weighing more than 400 pounds. But even then, his health was a concern.

In 2003, he wrestled again in a pay-per-view match in Alabama. But even then, he was considering gastric bypass surgery.

The surgery restricts the amount of food a person can eat by reducing the size of the stomach. Patients must be morbidly obese to qualify for the surgery. Gastric bypass has been controversial because of the side effects some patients have experienced.

Some 171,000 people in the United States will have the surgery in 2005, said Georgeann Mallory, executive director of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, which is based in Florida.

Staples' doctor considered him a "walking time bomb," and recommended the surgery, Staples said.

"I knew the chances I was taking," he said. "There's a lot more things I still want to do in life."

The father of two wanted a better lifestyle. Staples also thought he might want to get back into wrestling. He decided to go ahead with the surgery.

On April 25, doctors at University of Virginia Medical Center performed the procedure, using surgical staples to reduce the size of his stomach, then connecting that with his small intestine. The surgery reduced Staples' stomach to the size of an egg, he said.

But by the middle of the week after surgery, the line of staples burst. Fluid traveled up to his heart and Staples went into respiratory arrest, he said. His doctor told him he wasn't sure if he was going to make it. But Staples had another operation to repair the staples.

Six weeks later, he was back at his full-time job as a dispatcher for RADAR, a nonprofit transportation service. His family, friends and co-workers were very supportive during his recovery, he said.

With his smaller stomach, Staples said he is able to eat just a certain amount and be happy with it. He got back into the gym at Breckinridge Middle School on July 5. He has been going three times a week, using the treadmill and weights.

Life has been different as he has dropped weight. Coming down the steps at church one day, he lost his pants because the waistband was so loose. And he no longer has to use the Internet to find clothes that fit.

Staples said he would like to lose at least 100 more pounds and get down to a goal weight of between 340 and 350 pounds. (He's 5 feet 11 inches tall.) For a time while he was still wrestling, Staples stayed away from performing moves such as drop kicks; he thought he might injure himself because of his weight.

Now he's looking to get back to them.

Promoters contact Staples from time to time to try to get him back into the ring. But he keeps himself busy at work and coaching recreational league football with the YMCA.

What would get him back in the ring? He thinks money and a match for a good cause might do it.

"It's a good chance I'm going to go back - in good shape and better health," Staples said.